Editing Communications Decency Act (section)

{{short description|1996 attempt by the United States Congress to regulate Internet pornography}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2012}}

The '''Communications Decency Act of 1996''' ('''CDA''') was the [[United States Congress]]'s first notable attempt to regulate [[pornography|pornographic]] material on the [[Internet]]. In the 1997 landmark case ''[[Reno v. ACLU]]'', the [[United States Supreme Court]] unanimously struck the act's anti-indecency provisions.

The Act is the short name of Title V of the [[Telecommunications Act of 1996]], as specified in Section 501 of the 1996 Act. Senators [[J. James Exon|James Exon]] and [[Slade Gorton]] introduced it to the [[United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation|Senate Committee of Commerce, Science, and Transportation]] in 1995.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/104th-congress/senate-bill/314/cosponsors|title=Cosponsors - S.314 - 104th Congress (1995-1996): Communications Decency Act of 1995|last=J.|first=Exon|date=1995-02-01|website=www.congress.gov|language=en|access-date=2018-03-25|archive-date=2021-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211030052243/https://www.congress.gov/bill/104th-congress/senate-bill/314/cosponsors|url-status=live}}</ref> The amendment that became the CDA was added to the Telecommunications Act in the Senate by an 81–18 vote on June 15, 1995.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=104&session=1&vote=00268|title=U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 104th Congress - 1st Session|website=www.senate.gov|access-date=2018-03-25|archive-date=2021-06-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210630042752/https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=104&session=1&vote=00268|url-status=live}}</ref>

As eventually passed by Congress, Title V affected the Internet (and online communications) in two significant ways. First, it attempted to regulate both [[indecency]] (when available to children) and [[obscenity]] in [[cyberspace]]. Second, [[Section 230]] of title 47 of the U.S. Code, part of a codification of the [[Communications Act of 1934]] (Section 9 of the Communications Decency Act / Section 509 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Section 230 of… what? – blake.e.reid|url=https://blakereid.org/section-230-of-what/|access-date=2020-09-05|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-12-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211225050437/https://blakereid.org/section-230-of-what/|url-status=live}}</ref> has been interpreted to mean that operators of Internet services are not [[publisher]]s and thus not [[Legal liability|legally liable]] for the words of third parties who use their services.